The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-03-02

power can--but restless as l must be under
the awful torment that has me in its clutch,
/ must do something TO prevent myself
from going mad. Your sympathy may help
me for little. Listen"
With that he went on, and, speaking
rapidly and clearly, told me the strangest
tale that any patient had ever yet poured
into my ear-the strangest, and yet, con-
sidering the wholly inadequate cause to
produce the effects that appeared in him,
mentally pronounced it also the most alb
surd tale that ever physician heard. l can
only say now that l Judged too quickly.
| His story was long, and the needs of this
narrative require that il be greatly con-
| densed. Briefly, when seventeen years old
two of his young companions had persuad-
ed him to accompany them to the rooms OF
clairvoyant, fortune-te teller or mind
reader-she may have been all three
whose reputed marvellous powers had be-
come the wonder of many thousands. l
| judged from what he said that these COM
panions were credulous and quite easily
satisfied with the exhibition that was given
them. Not so Raymond. He sat, scornful
and impatient while the seeress was going
| through her muInmeries and predictions
with them; and when at last she turned to
him and asked if she should examine his
pulse, he answered very CURLY, not to say
rudely:
| Not mine, madam. Thank heaven,
am above all such nonsense. Keep your
charlatan tricks and your humbuggery for
| weak minds.
have more than once heard Of such
people as she being thrown into violent
rage by such plain and cutting language as
this. 1t was so with her. She was an
aged Spanish woman, with cross of the
Moorish blood, and pair of black eyes
that now blazed viciously. She came
straight up to Raymond, grasped both his
wrists, and looked like n basilisk right into
| his eyes.
Fool" she almost Kissed. "Why do
you tempt me to blast you--why anger me
! without cause!
Raymond, not at all impressed, so far,
laughed in her face.
Don't get into passion, good mother"
he said. Take it coolly."
Then hear, cried the crone, lifting her
hand and her voice together. II see your
fate; l know it; you shall know it, too, and
the knowledge shall follow you like ter
rible curse. Remember the 18th of April
On that day, In some year, you shall die a
violent miserable death. Remember"
She loosened his hands, and fell back,
exhausted by her own violence.
Raymond left the house with his COM
panions; and while he rldiculed the whole
incident, they were profoundly impressed
with it. And now began the strange men
tai phenomenon that from that day had
clouded Lis existence. Seeking to dismiss
the scene from his mind, he found, to his
amazement, that he was absolutely unable
to do So With every disposition to treat
the whole thing rs an absurdity, and with a
strength of mind and character unusual in
a youth, he discovered, to his consterna-
ton, that, day by day, conviction of the
truth of the prediction was overshadowing
his mind Struggle as he might, he could
not shake it off. Gradually, he was liter
| ally overpowered by the terror of the idea.
He struggled through two years of his col
legiate course, and then abandoned his
studies; this horrible phantom came be-
tween him and his books. He had sought
medical aid far and wide, without obtain
ing the slightest relief.
But how can / tell you," he continued,
with pathos in has voice that haunts me
yet, "of a 1.-THE that l suffer when then that
fatal twenty-ninth OF April comes round?
Four of them have / passed since my
fate was made known to me
another is near at hand-the torments
of the damned are as nothing TO mine.
Life looks so bright, so enhancing to me,
as | see it afar OH; but here l am, walking
in the very shadow of ath-doomed-O,
Godl-doomedi"
Even at that day l had acquired some
skill in the treatment of diseases of the
brain; and do not hesitate also to observe
that was much wiser then in my own con-
ceit than / have since been. Such profess
sional knowledge as / then had told me
THAT here was a most remarkable halucina-
ton, a case worthy of the greatest of the
specialists; and professional pride, as we'll
as the natural interest that | took III the
unhappy son of my old friend, led me at
once to the determination TO take him into
my own house, to watch over him, to cure
him If possible, as if he had been my own
son.
Subsequent events convinced that this
was not, in all respects, the wisest course.
There were others, one other, ut least. who
should have been thought of in such an ar
rangement. But who Is wise, even at fifty?
SO did not even intimate to Raymond
Wager, overweight as he was with the
strange phantasy that possessed him, that
thought he was scared by a shadow. L
did not excite his already overburdened
nervous system with any common place
suggestions about exercising his will, and
throwing off his illusions. L simply gave
him, for the time being, what he sought.
and was most in need of-sympathy. Just
what L SAID, 1t Is unnecessary TO repeat.
Very kindly, indeed, spoke to him about
the old friendship between his father and
myself, and my great desire to be of
service to him in his trouble; and l wound
up with a hearty offer of my house for his
asylum.
The scared, painful look vanished from
his face as L spoke; but he hesitated. l
took his arm and led him into the sitting
room, where Jeanne and her mother, our
housekeeper (for l was a bachelor), were
together. / presented him to my sister,
and the exquisite, high-bre politeness of
! the gentleman, without a trace of the emo
ton that had agitated him during the past
hour, came out in his greeting.
And then Jeanne and he were made ac-
quainted.
Many long and troubled year has
passed since then, and much has hap
pened to me meantime: but never have
/ seen, never shall l see, so hand
some couple as they. / have told what
Raymond was; / have not the heart to
speak in the same way of Jeanne: to tell of
her beauty, her goodness, her charms of
mind and person. As they touched hands,
as their eyes met while they exchanged the
commonplaces of such occasions, as later /
noticed them at the piano. knew as we'll
Al. l,ta lafh .,,.a